A Fox Hidden Under the Leaves
by addamp53
Summary: What if Naruto wasn't the knucklehead everyone thought he was? What if Iruka was there for him as much as he wished he had been in Cannon. please read and review. I'll take any help i can get. Strong Naruto, Not genius level.
1. Chapter 1

Naruto smiled down at the shop owner from his perch in the rafters. Even in a ninja village it was shocking how seldom somebody looked up. Of course even if the old balding man had looked up he wouldn't have been able to see the blond wanna-be ninja anyway because of the genjutsu he had placed on himself to make that corner of the ceiling darker. Against any self-respecting ninja the difference in shades would've been obvious but, against a civilian he might as well have been invisible.

Several minutes later Naruto watched as the old man put down his cleaver on the hardwood counter and grumbled something about rats before walking back upstairs. Naruto waited a full hour before untangling himself from the rafters, when it dropped the chance of failure even a percent, he had all the patience in the world.

With his matted black jumpsuit and dark maroon scarf wrapped around his face and spiky blond hair, he was a shadow quietly moving through the shop to the freezer in the back. Slowly he went through hand signs and pressed his hands to the hinges letting his chakra flow out and break down the rust that had gathered from years of use. With that done he pulled open the door and grabbed several white paper packages.

Quickly securing them in his knapsack he bent and leapt into the air grabbing hold of the rafters and pulling himself back on top before crawling through a small overhead fan that was stopped using a small piece of wood as the jammer. After on the roof Naruto quickly leaned back over the edge and yanked the chipped piece of wood out, letting the fan resume its leisurely rotation.

A glance of shining blue eyes at the moon confirmed the time and Naruto ran and leapt off the roof catching the window sill of an apartment building on the other side of the rode and pulled himself up before swiftly climbing the side of the building like a spider. Using handholds he was able to quickly reach the top and looked out over the village of Konoha.

Under the light of the moon it looked like a peaceful haven for those thrown around by the world. For most people this was the truth, unfortunately he wasn't most people. For him it was a barren wasteland of hateful glares and harsh whispers, rarely could he walk down the street without feeling the villagers anger and frustration at not being able to attack him. Not that that had stopped all of them, he had a personal room at the hospital on reserve for him.

Even Naruto admitted to the beauty of Konoha, he just felt the general populous needed to be given a firm smack to the face and to be forced to wisen up. Chuckling bitterly his voice muffled through his scarf, "If 99 percent of the population were just to leave I might actually like it here".

Done with being nostalgic Naruto pulled out a small batch of ninja wire and wrapped it over a zip line hanging down from the roof and pushed off. Feeling the wind against his face had always brought a sense of peace to the young blond, for those few seconds he could pretend he could fly and be away from all the glares, the whispers, the beatings and the loneliness.

But as always too soon it came to an end and his feet caught the roof of another much shorter building and he let go of the ninja wire with one hand and went into a front roll going all the way to his feet and running off again. Now in the seedier part of Konoha he slipped down the fire escape and started drifting from shadow to shadow. He waited for cloud cover whenever he needed to cross the street waiting until the cloud blocked out the moonlight before moving with it to the other side of the street.

Eventually he made it to a small apartment complex next to a warehouse. Both were rundown and in need of serious repair if they were ever to be useable. Slowly, Naruto turned and scanned the area behind him and above him to check if he was followed but found no one else in the night.

Turning he grabbed first window sill, making sure to avoid the broken glass, and climbed up the building right beside the fire escape. The fire escape was too loud and shook with every step taken, one of these days it was going to kill someone and it wasn't going to be him.

Once he reached the roof he jogged all the way to the north side before turning around and taking a deep breath. He bent low and took off running the whole length of the building in but five seconds before jumping off the side. He curled into a ball as he flew through the air and sailed through a hollowed out skylight and down into the abandon warehouse landing roughly on a pile of old mattresses.

Laying on his back for a moment Naruto finally relaxed and pulled down his scarf revealing six whisper like marks on his cheeks and a small self-satisfied grin. A loud gurgle roared from his stomach and reminded him why he went on tonight's escapade. Rolling off the mattresses he walked over to a small frying pan set up above an unlit campfire. Naruto grabbed two smaller sticks and rubbed them together like he was taught until they started to smoke then placed them in the dried grass and leaves he had gathered under the larger pieces of wood.

Soon he had a small fire going and pulled out the white paper wrapped packages, and cut them open with a kunai. He pulled out two large steaks and set them on the old cast iron frying pan then started cutting a small onion he had stolen out of some hag's garden into small pieces.

Once they were a sufficient size the blond scooped them into his hand and dropped them into the frying pan before grabbing a water bottle pouring a little into the pan, most disintegrated on contact making a large puff of steam come up but the rest was absorbed into the steaks and mingled with the juice from the onions.

Once more pulling out his trusty kitchen utensil Naruto stabbed the steaks with his kunai and flipped them smiling hungrily. After stirring the onions for a bit the blond went back over to his table and carefully pulled everything off it before pouring some water onto it and cleaning it with a grey rag. Satisfied he walked back to the fire and pulled the skillet off and slid its contents onto the mostly clean table before putting out the fire and cleaning the pan while his food cooled.

Walking back to the table he pulled out another kunai from his pouch and wiped the grease used to keep it sharp on his pant leg before cutting the steak open and quickly devouring his meal. Once finished he walked back and laid down on the mattresses, his hunger sated for the moment.

"If I had actually paid for those steaks I'd have to give that butcher my compliments, those were delicious. Course he did steal my wallet last year and I fixed his freezer so I suppose I did pay for them". He smiled as he chuckled thinking of that arrogant old man who had chased him from his shop with a butcher's knife a year before.

"So the genin exams Hu? I suppose I should pass this time, I did wait two years like I promised after all." Naruto yawned and rolled off the mattresses before making his way to a small corner of the warehouse with ropes hanging up sheets to form a room. Once inside he removed two small bands on his wrists that had the Kanji for "weight" on them and another two from his ankles before climbing into a much cleaner mattress and settling in for the night.

The next day came much too soon and Naruto's groan was muffled in his pillow as he fought off the desire to go back to sleep. After several minutes of internal debate the decision was taken out of his hands as cold water suddenly splashed down onto him from above, shocking him into jumping high into the air while grabbing a tanto from his night table.

After wiping water logged hair from his eyes he lowered his sword and spit some water out, "Sometimes, I really hate you."

Standing there was his chunin teacher Iruka Umino holding an empty bucket, "Well if you would get up when you're supposed to I wouldn't have to come wake you up." Saying this like it were the most obvious thing in the world and as if it should be expected did nothing to cover up the mirth in his eyes just begging to be let out.

The blond merely rolled his eyes and pulled off his, now soaked, black t-shirt and hung it on a rusty nail before walking to a section of floor where there was a large white circle spray painted on the floor. "So what are we doing today, Sensei?"

"Sorry Naruto, no sparring today. Can't have you showing up to your genin exam covered in bruises now can we? The brown haired chunin asked teasingly.

Naruto grinned back, "More like you couldn't give the test if I knocked you out again, right Sensei?"

A bright blush painted Iruka's cheeks as he scratched the back of his head, "Well if you recall I said that technique was banned in our sparring. So the real score is still 65-0, bite me Naruto."

A popping sound was echoed in the building causing Iruka to look up at Naruto, who was now covered in smoke until a silky smooth voice called out, "Where would you like me to bite you Iruka Sensei, I'll do it anywhere you like."

When the smoke started to clear a beautiful naked blond in her early twenties was on her hands and knees. Pig tails long enough to gently brush the ground as she began to slowly crawl towards the stunned chunin. Suddenly he started to glow and then broke down into a stream of electricity that grounded into the floor before disappearing. Seeing this, the naked woman sighed before disappearing in another puff of smoke and there was Naruto sitting on the ground, "Coward!"

Looking out the window Naruto realized that he was almost late for his Genin exam and quickly ran to a trap door on the North side of the warehouse before flinging it open and jumping in. Running quickly, he blurred through the tunnel and then up a ladder before pushing open another trap door under the bed in his apartment.

Turning to his closet he flinched looking at the hideous orange track suit before sighing and putting it on. _Just one more day as the class clown_, he thought to himself as he put on a fake smile and left the apartment through the front door.

Sprinting through town at a pace that was only slightly above genin level Naruto finally ran into the class room and up to his desk, dodging a piece of chalk thrown at his head from behind by an irritated Iruka.

"Okay, Class. Today is the day of the genin exams, you will be expected to perform the Bunshin, henge and kawarimi no jutsu. We will call you in one at a time by alphabetical order." With that Iruka called the first name and walked into the other room where the class's other teacher Mizuki was waiting.


	2. Chapter 2

The tension in the room was high; numerous genin hopefuls praying that they had what it took to ninja. Naruto smiled broad, while talking a mile a minute and laughing at his own jokes but his eyes also constantly searched the room identifying those most likely to pass the upcoming test.

First there was Sasuke Uchiha, the last loyal living member of the Uchiha clan.

He wore the traditional Uchiha symbol on the back of his blue t-shirt, the picture of a cold detached, brooding asshole. He was glaring at the window as he purposefully ignored the fan girls gathered around him.

'That's right teme, you show that window. Show it the greatness of the Uchiha clan.'

For a second Naruto's smile becomes more real as he muses about the brooding Uchiha. In terms of Taijutsu and Ninjutsu he was by far the most progressed of the current batch, at least on paper.

Surrounding him was a large group of girls vying for his affection, of those only two were even worth the young Uzumaki's attention.

Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, both pretty girls but sadly both swept into the Uchiha's fan club.

'At least Ino has her Yamanaka family jutsu going for her Sakura has nothing but book smarts, and those aren't going to do her a bit of good in a fight against shinobi. And then even Ino doesn't take her fighting seriously she spends more time on batting her eyelashes at the Uchiha than training but the pathetic academy tests are still easy enough for her to pass.'

Next was Chouji of the Akimichi Clan, the self-proclaimed "big boned" boy was decently along with his family jutsu and was slow in Taijutsu but hit with a lot of power. He was sitting next to his best friend Shikimaru Nara of the Nara Clan, a clan of genius level I.Q. ninja who used shadow based jutsu to take control of anothers movements.

'Both of them are shoe-ins for the graduation, judging by their past performance in clan Jutsu they could be passed on those alone.'

Kiba Inuzuka from the clan of dog users, fierce in Taijutsu and produced some of the village's best trackers. They bonded with their pups during childhood and they became lifelong partners. Naruto had tried to befriend Kiba but it had taken months to get his partner Akamaru, a small white puppy, to stop growling when he came by.

By the time Naruto was about to examine the rest of his classmates when he heard Mizuki shot out his name.

He sounded pleasant enough but Naruto had always gotten a bad vibe from the teacher.

When he entered the room there was a table lined with Konoha headbands, blue cloth with a metal plate with a chiseled leaf design in the center. Sitting at another table were Iruka and Mizuki both smiling kindly at him.

Naruto greeted them with a smile and a nod, "Hey Iruka Sensei, hi Mizuki."

"Naruto show respect to your teacher!" Iruka scolded loudly.

"I did Iruka Sensei." Naruto replied with a fake smile and a clueless expression.

Iruka knew that look and also knew that the blond would never show respect to anyone he didn't feel had earned it, it was only after Iruka had started training the boy outside of classes that he had started calling him Sensei.

_Flashback_

_Naruto held his fingers in a cross position in front of his face with a supreme look of concentration on his eight year old form and cried out "Bunshin No Jutsu!" Iruka looked on expectantly waiting for the smoke to clear. When it did there were twenty perfect clones of Naruto looking at him before the one in the middle cried out and jumped in the air "Yes!"_

"_Iruka! Iruka, now I can graduate! I was starting to have my doubts but with your help I was able to do it!" Naruto loudly exclaimed allowing his excitement to carry him away. _

"_Naruto, this is great and I'm glad that you can now perform the required jutsu but there's something I need to talk to you about. I don't think you should graduate with this year's class" Iruka said calmly. _

"_What! But Iruka I can do the jutsu now, I'm ready to be a ninja just like you!"_

"_I know Naruto, I know. But you're so much younger than those in your class, when you graduate and get on teams they will be jealous of you for graduating at a younger age. This combined with the dislike they already have towards you and these things will make your team dysfunctional. Your first genin team will be like your family and with you having never known a loving family I can't help but think that if you wait until your classmates are your own age that you'll be much happier." _

_Iruka had to say all this despite the tears beginning to show on Naruto's face, because they were the truth and Naruto would be happier this way. With the hatred implanted by their parents the team dynamic could only get worse with everyone knowing that Naruto was a prodigy._

_The young blond held strong, keeping his tears from falling as he struggled to think through Iruka's reasoning. After several minutes he was able to see that Iruka had a point but what would happen to his training. "But Iruka if I do this I'll spend two years learning nothing!"_

"_You've got a point Naruto so how about this, While you're going through the academy again I'll come over and teach you the type of things a Jounin sensei would teach you. How does that sound?"_

"_But Iruka, you're not a Jounin, how can you teach me the things they would?" Naruto wasn't sad anymore and was looking at the situation with much calmer eyes._

"_Well Naruto, its true I never made Jounin." Iruka disappeared and had a kunai to the blonds throat before Naruto was even aware he had moved. "But that's because I was recruited into Anbu while still a chunin." _

_Naruto's eyes were wide as he began to smile, "You've got yourself a deal! Iruka Sensei!"_

Naruto stood calmly in the exam room as Iruka picked up an eraser of the desk and threw it at him.

With a small puff of smoke where the blond had been standing was Mizuki, chair and all. It took Mizuki a second to realize what had happened, and that second was all it took for the eraser to bounce off his head.

Mizuki merely chuckled good naturedly before carrying his chair back to behind the desk. On his way past Naruto he rubbed the young ninja's head harder than was necessary, making it slightly painful. The blonds smile became more strained but he just went back to his position before the desks and used Henge to turn into a perfect copy of Iruka.

Iruka nodded calmly and put a mark down on his board, "Ok, Naruto now the Bunshin No Jutsu."

Naruto nodded calmly and smirked before blinking slightly as he noticed a slight flare in Mizuki's chakra levels before they returned to normal.

Shrugging Naruto brought his chakra levels to a steady steam before announcing, "Bunshin No Jutsu."

A large puff of smoke appeared and covered most of the classroom, but when it did Naruto was able to sense a smaller surge of chakra behind him then the numerous clones still hidden in smoke disappeared before his eyes as their chakra become disrupted.

When the smoke cleared Iruka was stuck looking at Naruto standing by himself.

Naruto glanced around wildly and Iruka could tell something had gone wrong, the young blond had been able to do this technique for two years.

Mizuki covered his smirk quickly and frowned convincingly, "I'm sorry Naruto, but if you can't produce the minimum two Bunshin then we can't pass you. There's also a three strike policy. Maybe the ninja life just isn't for you."

The whiskered blond looked over to Iruka. The man wore a serious expression and gave a barely perceptible nod. "Mizuki-sensei is right, I'm afraid you can't pass."

Naruto plastered an expressionless mask on his face and walked out the door.

Two hours later he sat on a swing looking towards the crowd of parents and their children as he waited for Iruka. He had tried merely standing by the door but the combination of glares and heated whispers proved too troublesome.

One by one students came out and were congratulated or consoled by their families. He found himself jealous and hateful of these interactions but incapable of not watching. Finally, the crowd began dispersing.

Naruto felt a chakra flare behind him and calmly turned to find his silver haired "sensei" standing behind him.

"Hello Naruto, listen I'm sorry for being so blunt with you in there. It must've seemed rather harsh, but contrary to what I said I do think you have what it takes to be a shinobi. Bunshin is an un-needed jutsu in my opinion but sadly I can't change the academy police. But there is another way, if you're able to prove your skill in such a way that everyone has to acknowledge you that is proctored by a teacher you can still graduate."

"You mean it sensei?! What type of thing would I have to do? Will you help me?" Naruto blathered quickly all the while thinking about why Mizuki would be willing to help him.

The silver haired chunin smiled kindly, "Of course I'll help you Naruto. But it would have to be something really big; fortunately we can copy students of the past. One student snuck into the Hokage tower and stole the scroll of seals and was able to return it to his Sensei without being caught, he was graduated automatically and made student of the year."

"Yatta, I can't wait to stick it in Uchiha-teme's face." Naruto grinned broadly.

**Later That Night**

"Well that was depressingly easy"

Naruto stood in the forest by a cabin holding the Forbidden Scroll of Seals in his lap as he waited for Mizuki to show up. His fingers slowly caressed the paper holding the scroll closed.

"We'll it couldn't hurt just to take a peak."

The young blond slowly opened the scroll and rolled the first twenty feet along the ground. _Dear God this scroll is fucking huge!_

The jutsu were separated into sections; those that required bloodlines, _Out_. Suicide techniques _Out. _ Kage only techniques, _Well I am going to be Hokage someday. I might as well get a head start_.

Naruto smirked as he pulled out a blank scroll and quickly started copying down techniques. After several minutes he found a technique that caught his interest. _Shadow Clone Jutsu_.

**Two Hours Later**

The rustling of bushes alerted Naruto to someone's approach so Naruto quickly rolled up the scroll and swung it back up onto his back. The orange clad ninja pulled on his fake smile and got ready to great Mizuki, what he saw froze the smile and shattered it to pieces.

Stumbling out of the timber was a small black haired boy wearing a green shirt covered in blood.

"Naruto, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know what he was planning." He was crying now as he stumbled towards the frozen blond.

"Shi? What are you doing here? What are you talking about?"

A whistling sound whispered through the forest as a small shadow impacted on the young boy's back knocking him to the ground. As the blond looked closer he noticed a kunai handle deep in the smaller boy's back.

Naruto started running towards his downed classmate until another, bigger shadow appeared standing over the downed boy.

"He's talking about me, Naruto." The shadow leaned down and grabbed Shi's hair pulling him up into a kneeling as it put another kunai against his throat.

"Now give me the scroll, Naruto." Naruto's eyes widened and his hand started inching towards the kunai pouch on his right leg. His eyes locked onto Shi's and in that moment they knew each other better than friends, better than brothers.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I'm the one who made you fail the genin test, he taught me how to make a chakra string and use it to dispel your Bunshin."

The shadow pulled the kunai away from Shi's throat and stabbed him viciously in the shoulder before yanking it out as the boy screamed. "Now, now Shi-kun you shouldn't be talking."

"Now Naruto, the scroll. I'm stronger than you and with that scroll I'll be invincible and help Orochimaru-sama crush this pathetic village."

The shadow replaced the kunai at Shi's throat holding it tight against the skin.

Naruto's hands slowly started moving towards the scroll. Shi's black eyes locked with Naruto's bright blue and Shi slowly shook his head.

"Naruto, keep that scroll away from this bastard with everything you have. Long live Konoha!" With his final words the black haired teen bucked wildly and threw himself forward, cutting his own throat on the kunai and dropped lifelessly to the ground.

Naruto froze and stared at his lifeless classmate. In the back of his head a calm rational voice made itself known as everything else shut down.

_He's dead. He killed himself to remove the leverage given to move me into giving the scroll. He died for the village; he was a true loyal shinobi of Konoha. He's been studying for years to become a shinobi and now he's dead without ever going on a real mission._

Naruto's eyes flashed momentarily red as his emotions came back, thundering through him.

The clouds continued to drift through the sky and allowed the moonlight to shine down into the clearing illuminating both victim and killer.

Standing over the cooling corpse of his classmate was their teacher Mizuki, dressed in his chunin vest and a bandana hiding his silver hair.

Acting quickly Naruto pulled two kunai from his pouches and winged them at the traitorous academy teacher. While the kunai were still in the air the blond hair already turned and ran, sprinting into the forest.


	3. Chapter 3

Wind and trees whipped past the orange clad teen as he plunged deeper and deeper into the forest. Using everything Iruka-Sensei had taught him in evading persuit he ducked and weaved, always keeping trees between himself and the last known location of the traitorous chunin, to deny a line of sight and an easy kill with projectile weapons.

'I have to get out of here; I've never beat Iruka-sensei in a fight so it's unlikely I'm ready to take on Mizuki.'

Naruto glanced back and saw a flash of silver up in the tree branches behind him.

'Shit! He's between me and the village, he's herding me away.'

A high pitched whistle was his only warning but, it was enough. Sending a burst of chakra through the sole of his right foot the ground exploded and he was rocketed to the left barely avoiding the shuriken that ripped through the arm of his jumpsuit.

The game of cat and mouse continued for hours as Naruto tried desperately to escape his tormenter as Mizuki taunted Naruto at his failure to escape.

"Come on Naruto-kun, you know you'll never get away. Just face up to the fact that I'm stronger than you and that I'll get that scroll one way or another. No one will blame you; saving yourself is what ninja do."

"No! You're wrong! Ninja fight for their villages, they fight to protect and bring prosperity to what they've chosen to be precious to them." Naruto's voice softens as his mind replayed Shi's death, "Sometimes they even die for it."

Mizuki suddenly appeared standing in front of Naruto and delivered a brutal palm strike to the teen's chest. Naruto flew back with the distinct sound of ribs cracking and a cry of pain.

"Believe what you want, it still won't protect the scroll."

Naruto lay on the ground gasping for air as he reached deep inside himself for what Iruka-Sensei had always described as his red chakra; slowly he brought a small amount of it up and focused it on his torso.

He didn't like using this chakra; it was addictive and always made him so angry. Making his lonely childhood flash through his eyes, the attacks at his apartment before he had secretly moved to the warehouse and now Shi's death by Mizuki's hand.

Quickly the pain in his ribs eased away and he slowly pushed the red chakra back down.

The silver haired chunin was slowly walking towards Naruto, "perhaps you should be thanking me Naruto, if this is all you can do maybe it was for the bet I don't let you become a shinobi and get your teammates killed with your incompetence. What a waste of all that power."

Slowly a plan started to form in the young blonde's head. 'Shi said that he used chakra strings, I was actually awake for that lesson! Puppeteer ninja from Sand use them for battle, they can move things!'

Ten feet behind Mizuki lay the discarded kunai that had fallen from Naruto's hand when the palm strike had been delivered. He just needed the time!

"What do you mean a waste of power?"

As fast as he could Naruto began digging into the, thankfully soft, soil around him and pushed his hand under the ground then slowly began focusing to make a flow of chakra.

Desperately again and again he tried to make the chakra string as he had heard it described, thin and flexible. The moment he tried to push it through the ground it would explode at the influx of chakra.

'Crap, I don't have the control necessary for this.'

"O, the little brat wants to know the secret before he dies? Alright, I'll tell you then. You remember the history lesson on the death of the Fourth Hokage and the Kyuubi right?"

Naruto nodded, using those lessons he learned in class to make it look like he was paying attention.

'Gah! These things are too fragile. Think! Okay it's like string, and string is used to make rope. Rope doesn't break because tis so many things wrapped around each other!'

With that in mind he slowly began making hundreds upon hundreds of chakra strings, each course and undefined and then wrap them around each other into one inch wide chakra cable.

'Well I'm certainly not a puppeteer yet' slowly he began to tentatively push the chakra cable through the earth and watched as the dirt above where the chakra was moved slightly.

"Well brat, the Kyuubi was a monster made of pure chakra and you can't kill Chakra. So what the Fourth Hokage did was to use a seal to lock the Kyuubi into a newborn baby, whose chakra coils were still flexible enough to withstand it. Through sealing the Kyuubi into the baby, that baby became the Kyuubi in human form! You are that baby Naruto, that's why everyone in this village you're trying to protect wants you dead!"

The blond froze in place as his mind worked a mile a minute assimilating this new information into what he knew about his life. The beatings, the whispers, the shunning, and marked up prices.

'It all makes sense, they hate me because of their loses against the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi was sealed in me? Wait, sealing isn't changing one thing into another. It's putting something inside another.'

A glance up at Mizuki's face showed that he was more than willing to watch as Naruto suffered with his thoughts. 'Well keep watching you bastard, the closer you look the less you'll see.'

The teenage Uzumaki lowered his head to shield his eyes with his golden blond hair and focused, reforming the chakra cable and slipping it through the earth much faster than before.

A glance through his hair confirmed that he was about at the kunai, with a mental command the chakra cable slipped through the surface and clumsily slipped through the hole on the handle before rising steadily into the air.

"You're wrong Mizuki-teme, not everyone believes that and I don't either! If I have to struggle my whole life to show the village that I'm not a monster then so be it! I have people to protect and I'm not ready to give up on them!"

With a surge of chakra the cable swiftly shot towards Mizuki's back. Due to the blonds lack of control and inability to see the kunai it missed center mass and slammed into the agitated chunin's shoulder.

With a cry Mizuki swung around, trying to find the thrower of the kunai while flinging several shuriken out into the trees.

With the silver haired man's back turned Naruto surged back to his feet and slammed several punches to the chunin's back, targeting his kidneys.

Mizuki spun quickly with a closed fist and backhanded the young ninja away, making him bounce off the side of a tree.

**At that moment 50 feet away**

Iruka and two Anbu landed silently on a large tree branch and stared at the scene, quickly taking in every detail. Iruka made a move to leap forward but is grabbed by the two Anbu on either side of him.

"Raven, Snake what is the meaning of this?! We have to go help Naruto."

We're sorry Iruka but right now we don't know who the traitor is, Hokage-same confirmed that it was Naruto who took the Forbidden Scroll of Seals. Let's just wait a moment, maybe their actions will tell us who is still loyal. If it looks like Naruto is about to die we'll step in." Snake made sure Iruka was listening before reluctantly pulling her hands off Iruka's shoulders.

**The Clearing**

Naruto slowly pushed himself back to his feet, his head now covered in blood from a gash in his scalp. As he made his way back to his feet the blond saw a flash of white in the distance, 'an Anbu mask, why aren't they helping?'

'They don't know Mizuki is a traitor yet, I have to find a way of telling them without blowing their cover.'

Mizuki was standing a few feet away, panting slightly while wincing in pain as he yanked the kunai out of his shoulder, leaving a ragged hole.

"You're going to pay for that Kyuubi-Brat"

"I don't think so! Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

Twenty Naruto's appeared surrounding the stunned chunin, 'how did this dropout learn the kage Bunshin?'

Naruto nodded quickly and two clones silently ran into the forest as the other eighteen charged the academy teacher.

Mizuki got over his shock quickly and flung the bloody kunai into the coming clones. With a pop two of them disappeared into smoke.

When the mob of clones reached the white haired teacher he spun quickly delivering a round house kick to the temple, dispelling it quickly while pulling out five shuriken. He continued the spin with his momentum and came around throwing the shuriken in a spread quickly dispelling several more clones.

Only five remained and they wearily circled the academy teacher, trying to find a weakness to exploit.

"How about I show you another Jutsu I learned from the scroll, the exploding kage Bunshin!"

Suddenly the clones all started running forward as they began to glow blue, the signs of chakra overload. They exploded upon reaching Mizuki used a chakra propelled leap to carry him out of the explosion and into the tree branches above.

When the smoke cleared there were five deep overlying craters where the white haired traitor had been standing.

Mizuki quickly jumped down and delivered a harsh side kick sending the young blond rolling along the ground. Stalking up to the panting blond Mizuki pulled out a kunai and smiled sadistically as he thought about ending the Kyuubi-brat.

Suddenly two Anbu jumped down into his path.

"Mizuki-san, Please come with us, both you and Naruto-san are wanted for questioning on the theft of the Forbidden Scroll of Seals."

The Anbu glided forward; one to the downed Naruto and one towards Mizuki.

"Of course Anbu-san I was here on orders from Hokage-sama to track down and stop Uzumaki-san from stealing the Forbidden scroll of seals and selling it to foreign villages."

"Liar, Anbu-san Mizuki-teme tricked me into stealing the scroll saying that if I did I would be allowed to graduate!"

The Anbu wearing a Hare mask walked towards the white haired chunin holding out a pair of handcuffs. Mizuki waited 'til the stocky Anbu was close before channeling chakra to a pair of small blades hidden on his wrists and stabbed the Anbu in the stomach and the chest.

Grabbing the Anbu's corpse he shoved him to the floor as he pulled out a kunai and threw it into the chest of the second Anbu, watching as he toppled over next to Naruto.

**In The Trees 50 feet away**

The Anbu and Iruka watched as the other Anbu were brutally murdered by Mizuki and rushed forward into the clearing Raven and Snake tackling Mizuki to the ground and quickly restraining him. Iruka rushed forward and stood between his student and his ex-teaching assistant.

"Mizuki-san you are hereby charged with treason to fire country and the murder of two leaf Anbu."

Naruto coughed up some blood as he worked his way to his feet.

"Actually Anbu-san, as much as I would love for Mizuki to take that punishment as well. He hasn't killed any Anbu."

Two pops are heard and smoke surrounds the downed Anbu before slowly revealing two Naruto clones each holding a thick piece of wood with stab marks in them.

Iruka smiled at the clones proudly.

"So you figured out how to beat the dispelling property of the shadow clones. By combining them with a henge you were able to show Mizuki to be a traitor."

Iruka walked forward and kneeled down before the blond.

"I think that this can count as a completed mission, I'm sorry it took so long to bring the Anbu."

The brown haired chunin reached up and untied his headband, reaching forward and tying it around the stunned blonde's head.

"Mizuki was right about one thing, you have definitely proven you're worthy of being a shinobi."


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto stood calmly in the most important office in the village, blue eyes locked on an old man behind the desk. Behind the desk sat an elderly, balding man in white robes with a white and red hat denoting a Hokage of the Village hidden in the Leaves.

The blond handed the Forbidden scroll he had been tricked to steal to the aged Hokage. The third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, accepted the scroll and nodded solemnly before walking out into the hallway to return the scroll to its resting place.

When Sarutobi returned Naruto was standing before his desk with his teacher Iruka pointing to his wrists and explaining something. Sarutobi decided to wait and see what exactly they were talking about.

Naruto nodded and held out his hands palm up. A second later two twin double sided eighteen inch blades ejected from his sleeve before locking into position.

With a flex of his wrists the blades unlocked and slide back up his sleeves, hiding in the folds.

"A very interesting weapon Naruto-kun, mind if I ask where you acquired them?"

"I asked the Anbu if I could take them from Mizuki-teme after they knocked him unconscious."

The old Hokage lifted an old wooden smoking pipe to his lips and channeled some fire natured chakra to his fingers lighting his tobacco.

"And why would you want the weapons of a traitor, Naruto-kun. Surely we can have your own made for you."

"You know as well as I do my life old man, nobody would make me weapons if I asked for them. I also know how useful they are, my clone never even saw the blades coming."

Sarutobi sagged slightly at hearing that the shop owners were once more refusing Naruto's patronage. He had tried for years to help the civilians get over their pain while trying to help Naruto but, it seemed that the villagers were more vindictive then he thought.

The young blond rubbed at his chest while narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Old man, why do I remember the log my clone was holding hitting his chest when Mizuki tried to stab him?"

Iruka smiled widely at his adoptive little brother.

"Hokage-sama, if I may?"

The old man chuckled kindly, "Go ahead Iruka-kun; after all you've been his teacher both inside and outside the academy for years now. Yes, I know."

Iruka and Naruto had whipped their heads towards their wizened leader when he told them that he knew of their secret training.

Iruka bowed sharply, "I'm sorry for not informing you of our training Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi merely smiled and waved it off, "let it never be said that I'll punish a teacher for wanting to teach. Besides, most of the expected graduates this year have the help of their clans. I just classified your help under the same heading."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Iruka said gratefully while reaching over, grabbing Naruto's head and pushing down making him mirror the brown haired chunin's position.

"Iruka-Sensei! Let go!"

Naruto ultimately got free and smiled, not the blinding fake smile that he showed the villagers as they glared at him but, a soft smile showing true gratefulness and affection.

"Thanks Old man, I don't know what I would've done without Iruka-nee."

The scarred brown haired chunin smiled brightly and wrapped his arm around his adoptive brother's shoulders while wiping the beginnings of a tear from his eye.

"Okay Naruto, the Kage Bunshin No Jutsu is an advanced form of the Bunshin No Jutsu. It's also a kinjutsu as its chakra cost is so high that the wrong people using it could kill them from chakra exhaustion. This jutsu however allows for solid and cognitive clones who can act on their own and react to changing situations. They are often used for scouting as when they are dispelled or killed the memories of that clone will return to the original. You must be careful not to overuse this jutsu at once as the mental backlash can cause serious damage."

"Iruka-sensei, what do you count as overusing a jutsu?"

"O, um just don't make any more than twenty clones at a time Naruto. And don't dispel them all at once."

The wise Hokage smiled as he watched Naruto finally showing his mental faculties as he understood Iruka's lesson without a problem. But sadly he still needed to make sure the blond took the lesson from this life experience as well.

"Now, Naruto I realize that you were only obeying instructions from a superior and are in no way in trouble. One cannot blame the student for believing the teacher. However, we lost a very promising genin today and I want you to use that to drive home a very important lesson. A shinobi must always look underneath the underneath; it is through this that we see the truth of things."

The young blonds face was impassive but one look at his expressive bright blue eyes showed the grief and determination spawn from this event.

_I'll remember you Shi, we may not have been friends but as of this moment we were comrades and I will live this life to the fullest. Watch over me, all my events are in the name of the lesson you taught me in that dark forest._

"I understand, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi watched on in pride, _Minato your son will truly be something else. I haven't seen determination like that since you went to get Kushina from those Kumo-nin._

"Old man? In the forest, Mizuki told me something. He said that I have the Kyuubi sealed inside me. Is that true?"

The aged Hokage and Iruka stiffened slightly, eyes noticeably wider as they stared at Naruto. The blond just stared back at the Hokage, determination to get the truth coupled with a deep fear of what the truth could mean.

Sarutobi sagged lower as the tension in the room rose. "Yes, Naruto. The tailed beasts are monsters made of pure chakra, as such they don't truly have a physical body and can't be killed. The only way to defeat a tailed beast is to seal it into an item."

Brown eyes gazed into bright blue.

"Or a person."

"Yes Naruto, people who have a tailed beast sealed within them and are granted abilities are called Jinchurikin. It means literally the power of Human sacrifice. The Kyuubi is the only tailed beast that cannot be sealed into an object and has so much power that it must be sealed into a child who's chakra coils are still flexible otherwise it would simply blow out of the subjects chakra coils and be released again. To save the village the Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi into your body at the cost of his own soul."

The newly made ninja slowly rocked on his heals as his eyes dimmed from the days traumas.

"I understand Hokage-sama. Could I please be dismissed? I think I need to go."

Brown eyes softened, "Yes, of course Naruto. Don't be afraid to come visit me to talk about this later."

Naruto nodded his head and started walking towards the window and making hand signs before suddenly disappearing in a puff of smoke.

**The Warehouse**

Naruto stumbled tiredly to his bed and crashed down onto it. All his brain wanted was to shut down but his mind refused as he had to consider how the events of the last twenty-four hours had changed him.

_The greatest shinobi of this village and a brand new genin both gave their lives directly for the village. I'm always talking about becoming a shinobi and Hokage but I didn't really understand the losses that were required. I have to be willing to die for the village, I have to give it everything I have._

_The Old man told me that a Jinchurikin like me were able to use powers from the tailed beasts. The Kyuubi tried to destroy the village, well you damn fox. Now you're going to be its finest protector._

With his decision made his mind finally shut off and the world descended into darkness.

**The next day**

The young blond woke up as the sun peaked through the holes in the warehouse wall. He rolled over onto his back and gazed up at the cracked and rusted roof.

"Well I have a couple hours from before the team announcements, maybe I can get some training in."

Naruto held up his hands in a cross like symbol, "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu."

Twenty-two identical blonds appeared in clouds of white smoke.

"Hu, I guess I need to work on my control some."

The blond pointed to the clones.

"You guys can all do the jutsu I know can't you?"

One of the clones stepped up, "Well I know everything you know but I'm not sure if that means I can use them."

Another clone stepped up, "Guess we should just experiment then."

The first clone crossed his fingers, "Henge."

With a puff of smoke Iruka stood in his place, "Well I guess this means we can use chakra."

The original looked on with analytical blue eyes, "Alright then, five of you work on the Henge, I want to be able to do it without hand signs like the teme. Five of you work on the Shunshin, that puff of smoke when we appear is going to get us killed. I can't even see until it clears. See if you can work on getting the smoke to get away, I think it's because we use too much chakra. Another five work on the tree walking exercise that Iruka-sensei taught us. You last five work on the Bunshin, just because we have Kage Bunshin doesn't mean we should neglect the original. And you two use Henge to get into the library and check out some scrolls about water walking or anything else you can think of. Use the Akira and Shinto aliases; I think they already have library cards."

"Yes Sir!"

The clones quickly dispersed to carry out their assignments. Naruto smiled, if what Iruka told him was true than he was about to gain all the experience of practicing that the clones experienced.

_They can only give me experience though, Iruka said to worry about mental backlash but never commented on any type of physical disadvantage so I'm assuming they cannot transfer any physical improvements from exercise._

Naruto stripped off his orange coat and black undershirt before tossing them away and walking over to a training post Iruka had helped him move in a year earlier. He lowered his center of gravity while spreading his legs and started launching punches into the hard wood.

The sound of flesh hitting wood and the sounds of jutsu practice continued for two hours before the blond decided he needed to get ready and go to the academy for team placements.

Naruto walked over to a corner of the warehouse and reached up to a pipe hanging from the ceiling, with the turn of a valve cold water started to splash down onto the young blonds body washing away sweat.

The soaked blond turned off his makeshift shower and hung up his pants to dry and toweled off before pausing as his eyes glazed over. His clones had just managed to get the Henge down so that he could do it without hand signs.

Several seconds later Naruto exploded into smoke revealing an average looking black haired man in his thirties who then exploded to reveal Naruto continuing to walk forward drying himself off.

"Finally" Naruto was positively giddy, now he could show his true talents and not get Iruka in trouble for teaching him outside of class. The blond knew that if anyone found out Iruka had been helping him that he would be subjected to the same treatment as the blond himself.

Naruto strapped on the hidden blades that he had stolen from Mizuki the night before and experimented extending and retracting them as he walked forward.

He opened up an old beat-up metal locker to reveal his nighttime outfit.

Five minutes later he was outfitted in a dark blue long sleeve shirt, over his shirt was a black vest with many pockets and a sheath sown into the back. Black pants with many pockets held kunai and shuriken pouches on his thighs, white combat bandages started above the ankles and descended into thick black combat boots.

Tying his blue forehead protector around his head and flicking his hair out and over it. With a grin he walked over to his bed and removed his tanto from his nightstand and put it into the sheath on his back.

Finally, the blond grabbed four bands off his nightstand and put one around each of his ankles and wrists before surging chakra to them all making the kanji for weight appear on each of them.

Naruto's body sagged slightly before he slowly straightened back up and wrapped a dark maroon scarf around his neck and over his mouth before running up the wall and out the skylight.

Underneath his blood colored scarf Naruto smirked as his eyes seemed to shine while he looked out over Konoha, "It's the birth of a brand new Uzumaki."

Author's Notes:

Thank you for reading this. I am trying to get out as many chapters as I can, fortunately they are pretty short so it's not hard lol. I'd love if any of my readers, I won't be so arrogant as to call you fans yet lol, would be willing to comment on whats been written so far. I would like it if you could also offer suggestions such as how strong should I make Naruto. I'd also like votes on the possible love interest of Naruto; options are Hinata, Haku, Ino, or Kin. Sorry but no Sakura love interest in my stories.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry this story was put up twice, I forgot to have it double spaced so it probably looked stupid.

Hey guys, thanks for all your reviews they have been amazingly helpful. I've decided thanks to some reviews as well as my girlfriend's vote that it will be a NaruHina story, sorry for those who voted elsewhere. Also thanks to a review I just got recently from CW his review in specific made me think maybe it would be a good idea to change the teams a bit. However I am a fan of good Sasuke stories where he never leaves the village, as such I have changed the teams to Naruto-Hinata-Sasuke.

Sorry for this one taking a bit longer than usual but for some reason whenever I tried thinking about the story songs started playing in my head instead lol. For some reason I've been listening to that "down down down in a burning ring of fire" song today so I might make ring of fire a jutsu just for the sake of irony :P

Naruto sat in the back of the classroom quietly slicing an apple to pieces and eating it while reading a dark green book. The class wouldn't start for another hour but the blond was enjoying the silence and the book his clones had found in the library.

Forty-five minutes later the blonds advanced hearing picked up the rattling of doors as they were slid open and some of his more obnoxious classmates arrived.

Seeing as Naruto was sitting in the back and not wearing kill-me-orange it took Kiba's nose to alert the general populous of the supposed dead lasts presence.

"Hey, Naruto! Class today is only for people who passed, a change in outfit doesn't make you a ninja."

The blond barely glanced up from his book, _Why o Why did he have to interrupt a fight scene._

"How about a Konoha headband and official recognition from the Hokage, does that make me a ninja Kiba?"

The brown haired dog boy blushed slightly in embarrassment as the class laughed at him for not noticing Naruto's headband. _I can't let my standing go like this, I'll show that drop out then everyone will acknowledge me as the Alpha._

Kiba got out of his chair and started making his way up the steps towards the blond.

Naruto didn't seem to notice as he kept reading his book, appearing to the world, fully engrossed with the plot.

Kiba smirked and pulled back his fist aiming for the blonds head and launched forward. However, in doing so he had to pass the desk of a very flustered Hinata Hyuga.

The Hyuga heiress watched fearfully holding her fingers pressed together before her lips as Kiba tried to attack the object of her affection. _He's going to attack Naruto-kun! But if I try to stop him I'd probably just fail and he'd be mad at me, not to mention Naruto would probably see me as a failure._

Hinata glanced over at Naruto and saw his eyes light up and a small smirk play over his lips, that look. She would do anything to preserve that look of innocent joy on his face.

With renewed determination she looked back at Kiba unconsciously activating her byakugan for the first time without hand seals.

The look that adorned her face would've frozen Kiba in his spot if he had been looking at her but, his eyes were locked on the knuckleheaded blond.

The sound of a chair being shot back across wood floor echoed in the silent classroom as the teens waited to see the blond trouble maker hurt. However, the pain wasn't Naruto's but Kiba's as he suddenly gasp out.

A dainty pale hand was wrapped around his rest while another seemed to poke his arm at high speeds until it hung limply from the captured wrist.

Looking down he met the pale eyes of Hinata Hyuga, the shyest girl in class.

"Why, Hinata?"

The rest of the class could hear his voice pitched slightly higher as he tried to fight the pins and needles sensation in his arm.

"What you were doing wa-wa-wasn't right Kiba. You had no reason to attack Nar-Naruto-kun."

"Thanks, Hinata-chan." _No one's ever stood up for me like that before_.

Eyes widened in the entire room as the class noticed that Naruto was no longer sitting at his desk oblivious but standing right behind Kiba.

Sasuke in particular as the fastest in the class was having a hard time believing it. _I didn't even see him move!_

Shikimaru however had his head laying on the desk as he watched the confrontation. _That wasn't pure physical speed, how did he do it?_

The pineapple headed shinobi looked critically at the area and saw sitting on Naruto's chair was his book from earlier. _Why would he put his book on the chair instead of the desk? Unless, ahh I see. He tossed the book over Hinata and Kiba then used kawarimi to switch locations with it causing him to appear in midair then land behind Kiba and his book to take his place in the chair. Ingenious_

Shino had figured it out as well and was silently contemplating the blonde's increase in skill. _The smaller the object the more chakra is required to switch locations with it. In order to switch with an object in motion takes a great deal more chakra control then I thought Naruto-san possessed._

Kiba froze hearing Naruto behind him, he couldn't sense the blond at all, even with the innate six sense all shinobi possess. Kiba slowly sniffed the air and relaxed some, he could still track the blond by scent thankfully.

Hinata froze upon hearing her blond Adonis thank her and had a huge blush on her face before she fainted and started to fall. Her head was on a crash course the blonde's now vacant chair, another quick kawarimi and Naruto was sitting in the chair and caught her unconscious form.

The loud clap from his book hitting the floor revived the class and they all started whispering excitedly. Kiba rubbed his arm painfully working the pins and needles feeling out as he turned to walk away.

"Kiba?"

Kiba hung his head ashamed, Hinata was right he had no cause to attack a comrade like that.

"Yeah, Naruto?"

"Could you hand me my book?"

Kiba was stunned, he had tried to attack the blond and he wasn't even going to scream at him? The dog-boy bent down and grabbed the green covered book and held it out to Naruto.

"Naruto man I'm sorry for acting like that, I never should've attacked you."

The blond merely smiled back, _He actually apologized, maybe he's not so bad after all._

"No problem Kiba, it's hard to control your actions when others are laughing at you. Maybe we should try this again later though, in a spar?"

Kiba smiled, "Sure, Naruto." The grey clad teen walked off as Naruto gently put Hinata back in her chair but she kept sliding to the sides and he'd have to catch her. _Hm, I need to get her to stop sliding and I'm not going to put her on the ground._

The blond finally shrugged and pulled her chair closer to his own and let her lean against him to stop her from falling off her chair, naïve to the position they were now in meant to most people.

Hinata woke up feeling warm and comfortable, there was something hard yet soft under her head and it smelled of her favorite blond. _Mmm Naruto_, with a jolt she remembered that Kiba had been attacking Naruto before she fainted. _Naruto!_

She opened her pearl colored eyes and saw a tan neck beside her and blond locks of hair. She realized her soft yet hard pillow was Naruto's shoulder and shot up quickly blushing heavily.

"Na-Na-Na-Naru" Hinata managed to stutter out looking like a tomato before Iruka walked into the room.

"Alright everyone SHUT UP!" Using his feared (big head jutsu).

"You're all genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves now, so I expect you all to go out there as consummate professionals. Use what you've learned these years to survive and to insure that the Will of Fire lives on in the next generation, because you are Konoha's future."

Naruto nodded with a smile at his big brother then returned to reading his book as slowly each member of the class was divided into teams.

"Shin Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and Sakura Haruno will make team 6 under Kurenai Yuhi. Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga will make tea 7 under Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 is still in circulation so team 9 will be Shikimaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka under Asuma Sarutobi."

Hinata let out a small "eep!" when hearing that she would be on Naruto's team while Ino and Sakura groaned loudly in disappointment, missing their change to be with their beloved "Sasuke-kun".

Sasuke merely scowled and Naruto nodded seriously and gave Hinata a bright smile. While Iruka continued team announcement Naruto whispered to Hinata causing her blush to darken as fainting became a real possibility.

"Hey, Hinata-chan. I guess we're teammates now."

"Ye-ye-ye-yes Naruto-kun I'm very happy to b-b-b-be your teammate."

"You're really red, are you okay?"

"I'm f-f-fine Naruto-kun."

**Hokage Tower**

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konoha sat in his office going through this year's academy graduates. Many of them wouldn't make it past the Jounins' examinations but there were some that probably would. One team in particular he hoped would make it past he examination, Team 7, the team consisting of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga.

The only problem being their leader, Sarutobi turned to an empty corner of his room "Bring me Kakashi Hatake; he should be at the memorial stone."

A flicker of movement was the only difference marking the departure of one of his hidden Anbu guards.

After a minute a puff of smoke announced the arrival of a tall silver haired man, wearing dark blue with a green vest marking his status as a chunin or higher. His headband hung slantingly on his head covering one eye, where it met a thin cloth mask that kept his face hidden from the nose down. An orange book held before his face as he blushed slightly.

"Kakashi, I take it you're ready for your new assignment."

Kakashi stopped blushing and put his book away, giving the Hokage his complete attention.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I will serve as the Jounin-sensei for Team 7, provided they manage to pass my test."

"I believe you'll find this batch of genin far and above the others you've failed in the past."

"The profiles I've read don't show anything extraordinary, I will test them. They will fail. I will go back to Anbu where I belong."

The old man sighed, "Kakashi you cannot keep hiding from Naruto and Sasuke in Anbu. You've been there twice as long as is usually allowed. I understand the death of your team hurt you but this superstition of yours that your presence will kill their descendants is absurd."

The silver haired Jounin sagged as his eyes…eye clouded over as memories of the past bombarded him. A second later he straightened and his eyes cleared.

"Their test will be fair Hokage-sama, you don't need to worry about my personal feelings affecting their results."

"Alright Kakashi, you have to meet your new team soon."

The aged hokage chuckled slightly, "Do try to not keep them waiting too long."

The silver haired Cyclops eye smiled and was gone in a puff of smoke.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys, thanks for reading as always but I also have a question that I want to ask of you. In this story Sasuke is going to be better less dickish version of himself. As I've already said this will be a NaruHina story but what I have been mulling over is should I try a SasukeHaku combination? I believe Haku could be a great influence on him if I tweeked the battle a little.

Please review and leave votes, Yes or No. Please give reasons as well, see you later.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto had always been one to understand being late, sometimes there were just things that needed to be done and you couldn't always show up when you intended to. That being said the blond at this moment was cursing his new sensei because he was three hours late.

Naruto had actually finished his book after Hinata had fainted when he asked her if she'd like to go get something to eat. In the end he had made a shadow clone and gave it money to go buy some ramen from Ichiraku Ramen. He had even been nice enough to ask Sasuke if he wanted some since they were going to be teammates, to which he was promptly ignored.

_Whatever, he'll learn the greatness of ramen when it gets here. The smell will shatter your pride and destroy your resistance, you fool!_

The blonds mental ranting was cut short as the door was pushed open and his clone returned smiling brightly and carrying brown paper bags full of the food of gods.

_Mmmmm_. Naruto started to drool slightly as the aroma began to assault his sensitive nose. It even caused Sasuke to stiffen and turn a little bit, Hinata began to turn in her sleep then tiredly opened her eyes.

Placing a box of shrimp ramen in front of her with a pair of chopsticks and a smile caused her to blush and wake up quickly, thanking Naruto for the food.

Hinata opened the box and took out a single noodle with her chop sticks and ate it with the manners expected of a noble. The second the noodle made it into her mouth her eyes widened in surprise and she ate it quickly, "Thank you Naruto-kun! This tastes delicious". Her joy at the delicious food so much that she even didn't stutter.

(I'm going to stop writing out Hinata's stuttering because frankly its really annoying to write).

"You're welcome Hinata-chan. I know, ramen is delicious but Ichiraku ramen is truly a gift that shows the provenance of Kami. I even got the teme one with tomato toppings if he'd be willing to eat with a peasant."

A low growl sounded from the last Uchiha's stomach, at least in his mind even he couldn't deny how hungry he was or how good the ramen smelled.

_I don't need people's pity but, Naruto has never once shown me pity. He doesn't care about my family name and probably only bought it to bond as a team. He obviously isn't the dead last he pretended to be all this time, not with how he moved when Kiba came after him and Hinata is the heiress of a clan. Perhaps they can prove useful in helping me gain strength so I can kill Itachi._

Naruto was at first shocked but quickly changed to a smirk. _Yes teme, come and submit to the Ramen Gods. Maybe it'll get that stick out of your ass._

Naruto reached into the bag and pulled out another box holding the tomato toppinged ramen and put it down on the other side of his desk.

Sasuke pulled a chair over and sat down with his teammates taking the chop sticks with a nod and taking a bite of his ramen. A momentary widening of the eyes and a very slight increase in eating speed wasn't much but to anyone who knew the Uchiha that was a huge reaction.

Naruto chuckled, "Say thank you teme."

The black haired Uchiha merely glared at the blond for a moment, "Hn."

"Close enough"

They continued to eat in silence for several minutes.

_I might as well find out now if they are going to have any use to me at all._

"Naruto, Hinata tell me your strengths and weaknesses in combat."

Naruto looked up from his own ramen as Hinata pushed her fingers together before her. The look in Naruto's eyes showed an intelligence that was quickly dissecting all possible advantages and disadvantages of letting anyone besides Iruka know his full skill set.

The plain fact of the matter was that the blond didn't trust the dark eyed Uchiha. The blond had known enough betrayal in his short lift to know that giving his full strength and weaknesses to anyone he didn't trust his life to would be a good way to get a knife in the back.

"I have high speed and agility for a genin, my reaction times are above average. I know several lower rank wind jutsu as well as the academy three and kage Bunshin no jutsu. I also know several camping jutsu such as minor earth jutsu that erase footprints and a minor water jutsu to pull the water from plants and into a canteen.

My physical strength is higher than average as well as my pain tolerance, along with my sense of smell and sight. My Taijutsu is mid to high genin.

My weaknesses would be that it can take me a long time to learn what others would consider a lower level jutsu due to my high amount of chakra. My high amounts of chakra also make it difficult for me to dispel genjutsu."

Sasuke nodded, surprised at the amount of skill the blond had apparently been hiding. He turned to Hinata and nodded, telling her to start.

"I'm Hinata Hyuga, I have the byakugan which allows me to see in a 360 degree field of vision. It also allows me to see the chakra networks of opponents and attack them directly using the gentle fist Taijutsu style of my clan. Besides the academy three I don't know any other jutsu as it is forbidden for the Hyuga unless given permission. The byakugan sees through any genjutsu cast on me when active.

My Taijutsu isn't very good compared to other members of my clan and my speed is low."

Naruto and Sasuke were giving her slightly skeptical looks, they had both seen how she handled Kiba, but also had seen how she usually fought in spars. _It must be her shyness and confidence problems that lead to her losses in spars_.

"Hinata, I don't agree with your assessment you moved at high genin speed when you confronted Kiba and rendered his arm useless, seriously dropping his abilities in combat."

"Thank you Naruto-kun but that's only because he didn't expect me to stop him." Hinata stuttered out her reply as her head dropped in shame.

Naruto silently put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her when she looked up, "What about you teme?"

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha; my Taijutsu with the Uchiha style is exceptional. My speed is high genin. I know several fire jutsu as well as the academy three and will someday get my Sharingan making it so I can increase my speed of learning jutsu to a high pace. Besides the Bunshin I don't know any genjutsu because I don't need them."

The door rattled and was slowly pushed back revealing a tall man with silver hair defying gravity in the shape of an upside down fang. "My first impression of you all, is you're boring."

With this said the silver haired man seemed to vanish and reappear standing before the newly minted genin, grab a box of Naruto's ramen and vanish back to the door.

"Meet me on the roof."

The three teens looked at each other before shrugging and grabbing their ramen and walking to the stairs.

"Naruto-kun?"

The blond looked over, "Yea?"

"I was just wondering what that book you're reading is" stuttered the shy heiress.

"O, I found it in the library. It's called 'The tale of the Gutsy Ninja'."

"Hn, doesn't sound like it would teach you anything. Despite being made about shinobi."

The blond glared over at the Uchiha, "It's true that it doesn't tell you how to do any jutsu but it does show good strategies to use in combat and was written by Jiraiya of the Sanin. And if that wasn't enough, teme, the main character is named Naruto so obviously he's awesome!"

The dark haired Uchiha merely smirked, "You almost had me convinced until that last sentence dope."

Pushing open a set of double doors they emerged into the daylight on the roof. There apparent sensei was sitting on the roof twenty feet away eating Naruto's ramen and reading an orange covered book, and giggling perversely.

Kakashi looked up and just barely held back a flinch as the images of Minato and Obito overlapped with two thirds of his new team. Quickly dispelling the image he started pretending to read while observing the three.

The Hyuga was acting about as expected, her evaluations showed her as shy and introvert, lots of self-esteem issues and naturally submissive to others. She walked behind the other two with her head down but stealing glances at Naruto, seemingly everyone but the blond himself knew of her infatuation, which didn't say much for his observation skills.

Next was Obito's kin, the same black hair as all Uchiha but the face was much too cold to even consider as Obito's, his teammate had always been warm and bursting with happiness but, Sasuke had a cold if slightly arrogant look seemingly plastered on his face.

His movements were smooth but he focused on Kakashi and surprisingly didn't disparage Naruto from walking beside him, if slightly behind as he sped up.

Last was seemingly where the academy evaluations had dropped the ball, Naruto's body language and previous actions did nothing to show the near drop out the teachers claimed him to be. Perhaps that was why one academy teacher's recommendations were so far off the others; maybe he was the only one telling the truth.

He no longer wore the kill-me-orange that he had been known for, his headband was clean but didn't shine like the other twos' making it easier to hide. Most of his clothes were black but standing in the light Kakashi could see a slightly lighter patterns breaking up the singularity which would make him blend in better. But the thing that truly set the blond apart was his eyes; although they acknowledged the silver haired Jounin they also continually moved around, checking for spots of ambush or hidden enemies, as well as attempting to assess Kakashi himself.

Inside his head Kakashi chuckled, _He's good, but I've hidden my skill level from far more capable shinobi than him._ _Let's test his emotions a bit, shall we?_

Kakashi looked straight at Naruto while letting out a small intentional burp, "I must thank you for this ramen Naruto, it was delicious."

Naruto's brows furrowed in annoyance, "I'm glad you like it Kakashi, maybe later I can show you where to get some of your own."

"Naruto-kun, you shouldn't be so rude to Kakashi-Sensei" Hinata lectured the blond gently.

_Hm, just like Iruka's files indicated, he won't acknowledge me as someone of respect until I've earned it."_

"Okay you three sit down and tell me about yourselves."

"What type of things do you want to know? You were already there listening when we explained our strengths and weaknesses in the classroom." Naruto smirked as he finished.

The silver haired Jounin was mildly impressed, he hadn't been trying particularly hard but had been certain he was quiet enough not to be found out by genin.

Sasuke merely nodded, though inside he was shocked as he hadn't known it was Kakashi who had been there. But he had felt like he was being watched and should've been more careful, he reprimanded himself.

Hinata nodded meekly as when she noticed the other two tense up slightly for no reason she had turned on her byakugan for a moment and seen Kakashi on the other side of the door.

Kakashi internally smirked as he re-evaluated the three genin in front of him, they were better than he thought; granted what he thought of them hadn't been much.

"Hm, let's start with simple things then; likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies that sort of thing."

"Alright, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like training, reading, Iruka-nee, ramen and the Old Man. I dislike traitors, like Mizuki-teme, unnecessary death, and people who judge others without seeing underneath their own preconceptions. My dream for the future is to take over Konoha as the Hokage and change things for the better. My hobbies are training, reading, trying different flavors of ramen, visiting with the Old Man and cooking."

Kakashi nodded as Naruto finished his introduction, a little exuberantly for the Jounin's taste, and turned to Hinata.

"My name is Hinata Hyuga. I like dancing, and flower pressing, and seeing people happy. I dislike people who are harsh on those who are doing their best. My dream for the future is to united the Hyuga, Main and branch families together and destroy the cursed seal. My hobbies are training, flower pressing, dancing, making medical creams and cooking."

Turning to the last member of his team, Kakashi found it easier this time to look at the Uchiha and not see Obito.

"Okay Emo, yoooouuuuur up." Kakashi drawled like a baseball announcer.

Sasuke momentarily glared at the man as he clenched his fists at his side.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha; I like tomatoes and not much else. I dislike anything that won't make me stronger. The only thing I do that could be called a hobby is train. I don't have a dream but an ambition, to kill a certain man and restore my clan."

"Hm, well that's interesting. That'll be it for today; you'll meet me tomorrow at 5 a.m. for a survival test."

Hinata timidly raised her eyes towards the Jounin, "But Kakashi-Sensei aren't we done with tests?"

Naruto and Sasuke narrowed their eyes at their silver haired instructor, when he started to chuckle ominously.

"Well yes, Hinata you're all supposed to believe that the test you just took is the one to become a genin. But in fact that test was just to see if you possessed the skills necessary to become a genin. The test I'll give you tomorrow won't test if you're capable of being a genin but if your worthy."

With his piece said the silver haired Jounin turned and started to take a step away before he stopped and looked back over his shoulder at the seated genin.

"O, and tomorrow, you shouldn't eat breakfast. You'll just puke it up."

_Can't hurt to show off just a little bit._

Kakashi smirked before disappearing in a burst of flame.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, first as always thanks for reading. I'm glad I'm able to provide some small amount of entertainment. Also sorry for taking so long on getting this chapter up, I've decided to start another story for when I'm just not in the mood for this one, It's called The Dark Whirlpool of Konoha. Just look on my list of things authored by me by clicking on my name directly above this. **

**I never really got any feedback on the decision to keep Haku alive and have there be a Haku-Sasuke relationship. And of course by keeping Haku alive I've got to bring Zabusa along because frankly, he's awesome and I don't like writing depressing scenes. Please if you have anything to say just give me a review, in all honesty I kind of thrive of them even if they're bad so please *says in Gaara voice* Acknowledge my existence! :P**

**Konoha, Bell Test Day**

The sun slowly climbed into the sky, bathed in the red of fresh blood growing lighter and lighter, it's light climbed up a beat up abandoned apartment building. In it's hay-day, well it had still been crap but, now it was barely standing and entire walls had been knocked down, whether by hoodlums or the passage of time. Sitting on the roof was a blond with a small blanket curled around his legs as he munched on an apple, watching the sun rise.

Naruto finished his apple and placed it carefully on the floor a few feet from him, he slowly ran through hand seals and then put is fingers to the discarded core. The core's skin retracted from his finger as if alive and slowly began to bubble before blackening, the area around the blonde's fingers wavered with heat as he used the camping jutsu to burn his apple core to ash.

There were three reasons to discard his trash in this way; one, he wanted to practice any time he could. Two, it was best if nobody knew of his hideout on the roof and trash might give it away. Three, well, he didn't feel like getting up.

The blond was thinking hard on what Kakashi's test would be. Sadly the only clue that he had was that it was a survival test and that Kakashi for some reason wanted them not to eat. Saying they would puke implied that they would be put through extreme physical hardship, but it's better to not show up with a completely empty stomach before exercise like that. There are foods that are better for exercise; in fact there was just something that he didn't trust about those instructions.

With that in mind Naruto got up before pulling out a small scroll, unrolling it on the ground and placing his now folded blanket on top of it before channeling some chakra into the scroll, sealing away the blanket within the scroll. With that taken care of he slipped the scroll into a pouch on his back and removed some ninja wire before running across the roofs and once again wrapping the wire around a steel line going from one building to the next towards the market district.

A half hour later the sun was already beginning its trek across the sky, he paid for some overpriced apples while stealing some oranges to make up the difference. The walk to the training ground was quiet and peaceful, the sound of the village awakening wasn't hateful like he normally heard, it was the sound of new beginnings, of new paths and possibilities. It was Naruto's favorite time of the day.

The blond showed up fifteen minutes early and sat down against the training posts with his bag of fruit beside him. Over the next ten minutes Sasuke and Hinata arrived, the heiress greeted him timidly and Sasuke merely gave him a grunt of acknowledgement.

"Do either of you want an apple or an orange? I figure even if the test is physical a single apple or orange will be digested fast enough to keep us from vomiting."

Hinata happily accepted, if the Uchiha hadn't been there she could've pretended they were on a picnic. Sasuke merely grunted but remained where he was leaning against a tree. A second later he swiftly brought up his hand to catch a red blur before it slammed into his face. Turning it around with a glare he momentarily let his eyes widened as he was holding a ripe tomato. He turned startled eyes over to the now smiling Uzumaki.

Naruto merely put a finger against his temple while locking eyes with the Uchiha.

Then began the waiting game, all three munching on their fruit or vegetable of choice as they waited for their errant Sensei. After an hour Naruto started running through the same hand seals as that morning and burning more apple cores, he tilted his head and started to focus more chakra into the technique causing the apple core to burst into flame where his fingers touched it.

Hinata and Sasuke watched on in interest as he proceeded to burn more apple cores at faster and faster paces, this continued until the moment his finger came in contact with the core it would burst into flame.

Sasuke grunted and tried to appear uncaring as he looked over at Naruto, "Hey dobe, what are you doing?"

Naruto jerked his head up, he had been so lost in thought he forgot there were others around, "It's a camping jutsu meant for disintegrating your trash, I was just thinking how if it could be made hot enough it could be incorporated into a fighting style. Imagine if every poke burned a hole in your enemy or set him on fire."

Hinata cringed but looked interested, _the gentle fist would be the perfect Taijutsu style for that but I can't teach anyone outside the clan, father would get mad_.

Sasuke's eyes seemed to light with a positively pyromaniac glow as he imagined holding Itachi down while he burned holes in his traitorous brother. Keeping his face carefully free of the glee he was feeling Sasuke pushed off the tree and walked forward before crouching down beside Naruto.

"Teach it to me."

The blond looked at him for a moment, and in that second Sasuke felt as if he were being dissected by those deep blue eyes, then nodded his content.

"Alright Sasuke, but never think I'm doing this because your 'the last Uchiha' as you're so proud of naming yourself. I will teach you and help you get stronger when I can just as I will expect you to help and to teach me because we're teammates and together we'll reach new heights."

Sasuke was shocked at the determination in the blonde's eyes but, then again he'd heard fake words of people he thought could help him against Itachi before, in the end they had all failed to meet his expectations. The black haired genin merely nodded seriously.

Hinata sat on the ground feeling lonely and rejected, Naruto intended to get stronger with Sasuke and not with her.

"Hinata, come over here, you may not need it but it'll never hurt to know how to hide your tracks and if you used it with your Jyuuken you'd be even more awesome than you are."

The blond smiled at her even as her face grew darker but she refused to pass out, Naruto had asked something of her and she wouldn't let him down. Carefully she got up and walked over beside Sasuke and crouched down watching as Naruto slowly made hand seals. After the third time Sasuke nodded and walked back to the tree he had previously been leaning against and slowly running through the hand seals to memorize them.

The next two hours were passed as Hinata and Naruto got to know each other while Sasuke was slowly trying to burn a hole in a tree. His progress was slow, even though it was a simple E-rank Ninjutsu it required small amounts of elemental manipulation, but towards the end he started being able to char a piece of bark in under three seconds.

Kakashi crouched out in the trees, a silent sentinel as his eye scanned his would-be-genin, he had only arrived a few minutes ago but they didn't seem to be doing anything interesting. Naruto was talking to Hinata and Sasuke was breathing a little heavy and holding a piece of bark, _Probably just a chakra control exercise_, Kakashi dismissed without a second thought. Normally he would've been more observant but with the sight of the legacies of his fallen teammate and sensei he was purposefully not focusing. The faster this was over the better.

Having finally seen all he needed, or so he thought, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared, like a wraith from the mist, in front of Naruto and Hinata. The blond and the blue haired heiress stood up, the blond giving him a lazy wave while Hinata bowed slightly, "Good Morning Ka-Kakashi-Sensei."

Kakashi lazily waved off the formality, especially since he'd made them wait til it was no longer morning to a shinobi anyway, "Alright you three, this is a simple combat test. The test is to take these bells from me." He held up a pair of golden bells that let out a small chime as they swung.

"You'll have until noon to get them from me, that's about four hours from now, if you don't have them by then the ones without a bell will be tied to the training post and forced to watch me eat."

Sasuke and Naruto let small smirks adorn their faces, thanks to Naruto's planning ahead they wouldn't be starving even if they didn't get the bells. Kakashi noticed their smirks as well and figured they had eaten earlier, how he loved it when they got arrogant thinking they had outsmarted him.

"O and whoever doesn't have a bell by noon will also fail and be sent back to the academy."

With that said the silver haired Jounin disappeared in another puff of white smoke. Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata glanced at each other each submerged in their own thoughts.

_I can't go back to the academy; I guess they won't be able to be as helpful as I thought_. Sasuke sprinted off into the trees in the direction their Jounin had gone.

Naruto and Hinata stared at each other, "You should get the bell Naruto-kun, I would just slow you down." Hinata sadly stuttered out.

"No, Hinata there is something wrong about this test. Have you ever heard of a three man genin team?"

Hinata took her time and thought about it carefully, she had known of some before but only if they lost a teammate through injury or death. The academy always taught the importance of a four man squad for the tactics Konoha used.

"No, I've never heard of a three man team unless a teammate died or was wounded" she stuttered out calmer now that she had something to think about.

**The Clearing**

Kakashi stood calmly in the middle of a clearing reading his favorite Icha Icha paradise, the Uchiha was around him setting up traps but the other two hadn't even showed up yet, maybe he should've slowed down a little more. If he had to give this test the least they could do was show up to entertain him.

A soft whistling alerted Kakashi to the approaching shuriken, without looking he caught the shuriken by putting his fingers through the center holes, however he would regret not looking or he would've seen the wires attached to the throwing stars, which were suddenly yanked hard off his fingers leaving slight cuts. The Jounin looked calmly at his bloody fingers then wiped them off and continued reading, _this ought to aggravate him enough to come out_.

The slight sound of shoe on dirt alerted him to the approaching Uchiha and he lifted his arm in a textbook block of Sasuke's flying roundhouse kick. With a shove Sasuke found himself flying back the way he had come, landed roughly skidding along the dirt, creating twin clouds of dust in his path. Winning two more shuriken, to buy himself time, Sasuke moved in again, noticing Kakashi was still reading his damned book, he moved in faster launching a blurred combination of punches and kicks at the Jounin.

Unfortunately though fast for a genin to Kakashi Sasuke might as well have been moving in slow motion. Eventually growing only slightly more interested when the Uchiha was knocked away and ran through a fast series of hand seals before putting his fingers to his mouth and blowing out a three meter wide fireball. _Impressive, almost no genin has the chakra required for a fire jutsu_.

With an eye smile the Jounin sank into the ground right as the fireball arrived overhead scorching the ground and exploding in an impressive display of pyromania. However, underground Kakashi couldn't even feel the heat as he used his chakra to move through the earth, as well as to sense where Sasuke's feet were. Using chakra through the earth as a type of sonar had been a technique taught to him by his Sensei during the Third Shinobi War.

Sasuke watched as his fireball dissipated, _There's no body, where is he? _"Right, left, behind, above." A muffled voice sounded from between his feet, "Below."

Two gloved hands sprang up from the earth and latched onto the Uchiha's ankles. Thinking quick Sasuke went through hand seals even faster than before. Just as his feet were beginning to disappear under the surface of the dirt he bent down pushing his finger down upon the Jounin's gloved hand and pulsing as much chakra through his fingers as he could.

But he wasn't fast enough, the dirt seemingly turned into water as he quickly sank into the earth leaving only his head above the dirt before solidifying. Sasuke cursed as he tried to move his fingers through the dirt, it was slow but he could feel his hand slowly burrowing through the earth.

Kakashi erupted from the earth thirty feet away behind the tree line, far enough away for Sasuke not to see as he ripped his glove off and threw it to the ground, the metal plate on the back burning red as the glove slowly melted. _Holy Shit! _Whatever the black haired genin had been doing, he was lucky it had hit the metal plate instead of the cloth; having his hand lit on fire wasn't a good way to pass the day.

While Kakashi was trying to figure out what Sasuke had done, Naruto and Hinata arrived in the clearing and Naruto squatted down in front of his buried teammate, "Well teme, we need to talk."


	8. Chapter 8

Sometimes people are sensitive, especially if they've had a bad day…or if they've just been buried up to their neck in the dirt, so talking to Sasuke was kind of tricky at that point.

"No, I don't need your help. I almost had that bell, next time I'll get it for sure." Sasuke growled at Naruto and Hinata as he continued to slowly work his hands through the softened dirt. Naruto merely shook his head before standing up and making a single shadow clone, said shadow clones then made several hand signs and the Uchiha felt a pulling sensation at his belly button and his feet hit the ground. The clone had switched places with Sasuke and was now buried up to the neck in the dirt. Naruto nodded to the clone and turned back to Sasuke.

"Listen Sasuke, we're academy students, there is no way that we are supposed to be able to take on a Jounin. Even less of a chance of us doing it by ourselves, so what is the point of doing this? Hinata and I agree that we can never remember a three man genin team, minus those who lost a member, can you remember any genin teams who were made as a three man team?"

The dark haired Uchiha had calmed down considerably listening to the blond, he thought back to the Uchiha clan Before, he couldn't remember a single team ever being made with three teams. Even though his memory was clear he still didn't like it being pointed out by the dead last.

"What's your point, dobe?" Sasuke asked scathingly.

Naruto merely ignored his tone, "The academy always drilled into our heads the importance of a four man squad so it's impossible that they'd bend the rules even for a Jounin like Kakashi."

"Then what is the point of there only being two bells, damn it?!" Sasuke growled as his frustration and anger built.

Surprisingly Hinata's soft voice broke through the building tension like a sledgehammer through glass, "Teamwork, teamwork and sacrifice for another." Hinata managed to make it through without stuttering at all as it all lined up in her mind. The word sacrifice brought up painful memories of her uncle but she understood the reasoning behind him doing what he did for her father, she only wished she were allowed to tell her cousin Neji.

Naruto nodded and smiled softly at the blue haired kunoichi, "You're right Hinata-chan, he said we had to prove that we were worthy and that it wasn't about proving our skills. It was never about fighting at all."

Hinata nodded shyly as she smiled back at Naruto and seemed to draw strength from his encouragement as her spine straightened and her head raised, it surprised them both that Hinata was actually as tall as Sasuke.

Naruto turned back to Sasuke, "Well Sasuke, it's all or nothing, are you willing to do this as a team."

Sasuke seemed torn for a moment as he considered the blonde's logic, finally conceding he nodded his head, a fire sparked deep within the young Uchiha, something the Hokage would call the Will of Fire.

**With Kakashi**

The silver haired Jounin had been moderately surprised by the skill the Uchiha had shown in fire jutsu, looking back that's what it had to have been that cost him his glove, but the other two had yet to even show up. Walking back into the original clearing of training ground 7, he put his hand on the stump and he let his eye close in pain, he could still remember Obito being tied to the post and crying out that he'd be a great ninja. The image of his Sensei trying to teach him the value of teamwork flooded into his mind's eye, _if only I'd listened in time_.

The whirl of weapons flying through the air was becoming a common thing in this test, there had been more this time, looking from his spot in the tree he saw his three charges getting out of their throwing positions at the boarder of the timber. The silver haired Jounin merely shook his head, they chose to all stand together and throw, even if it was teamwork it was just a stupid way to do things, they should've spread out and attacked from multiple directions. With a sigh Kakashi stood, _Might as well go end this farce_.

Right as he shifted his legs to take the first step forward his danger sense started screaming at him, a skill cultivated in the Third Shinobi War, he leapt out of the tree and into the clearing barely ahead of a fireball that incinerated the tree he had been crouched in. Looking back he saw the three genin who had thrown weapons at him disappear like a mirage. The moment his feet touched the ground he saw a flash of tan clothing and Hinata was upon him, she tried to strike quickly holding out two fingers as she tried to jab at the Jounin with impressive speed, something was off though, her swings were too uncontrolled for a Jyuuken user.

He continued analyzing her as he just barely moved out of the way of her fingers, to dodge the disabling ability of the Jyuuken, he also had to keep an eye out for the other two, especially since Sasuke was the only one who could've launched that fireball, leaning back as Hinata pushed a finger strike at his chest from two far back her fingers stopped about an inch from his Jounin vest.

Kakashi looked back at Hinata as she merely stopped where she was, her hand extended and finger pointed at his vest, there was an uncharacteristic smirk on her face that worried the silver haired Jounin. Suddenly his vest burst into flames as the Henge covering Hinata fell exposing the smirking Uchiha. Kakashi leapt back, chakra propelling him through the air, as he tore off his flaming vest and tossed it to the ground. As he landed his back to a tree a small curtain, colored to perfectly blend into the trees of Konoha fell revealing Hinata as she leapt forward quickly striking the unprotected Jounin's back and arms.

Kakashi wasn't a Jounin for nothing though and the second he felt the first chakra point in his right arm close he spun around sweeping Hinata's arms away and kicked her back into the trees. Sasuke rushed forward reaching for the bells while Kakashi dealt with Hinata, his victory already secure in his mind. However Kakashi leapt away right into the waiting blade of Naruto who had stood waiting behind a tree, knowing that Kakashi would be forced there after Hinata's strike and Sasuke's charge, _All according to plan_.

The Jounin's eye widened as he felt the blade slip into his back then burst into a cloud of smoke to reveal a log impaled on Naruto's tanto. The blond merely smirked and disappeared in a cloud of smoke of his own as he was revealed to be a shadow clone.

Kakashi was reeling, _What is this? There's no way genin can do this!_ The Jounin wasn't fighting seriously but he was going at the level of a new chunin and there was no way that couldn't be enough to deal with fresh genin. He heard a whisper and in a flash was turned to facing Naruto who was running through hand signs at a decent pace, too fast for him to stop.

Naruto's bright blue eyes locked with the silver haired Jounin as he settled on the last hand sign, "Ninja art: Eternal Darkness"

At this Kakashi almost screamed, that was the Tobirama-sama's Genjutsu, there was no way Naruto had learned the jutsu of the second Hokage, despite his denials his senses were suddenly blocked as the world around him turned black. There was no sight, he sniffed experimentally, he couldn't smell either, he touched his pouch, _Thank god I can still feel, that means he hasn't mastered it yet, maybe I can break out_. Kakashi formed a ram hand seal and stopped the flow of chakra in his body before surging it through stronger than before, the darkness parted and sound and scent returned to the world followed swiftly by sight. He could see Naruto now standing in front of him drenched in sweat as he tried to continue the genjutsu that he apparently didn't even know had broken.

It was obvious to Kakashi he couldn't play with these genin anymore, he rushed forward at the distracted Naruto and delivered a strong punch to the blonde's stomach. Suddenly his world turned upside down and his feet were bound before the world disintegrated before his eyes once again. This time when he came to Naruto was standing a foot farther back letting his hands fall from the ram seal, he could feel fingers pressed firmly against the back of his head, probably Hinata, and Sasuke was holding a kunai to his neck.

Kakashi was stunned but kept it hidden well as he turned to Naruto, "How?"

Naruto smiled tiredly, "I did use a genjutsu, but not the Second Hokage's genjutsu. I finished my genjutsu when he heard me say the name, you were under its affects already when you turned around and saw me doing seals. I used the description of the second's genjutsu from the scroll of seals to make you think I had used it on you, I knew you would try to flare your chakra so I put that in as part of my genjutsu, you only thought you flared your chakra and that lead you into our trap."

Kakashi was barely holding back his surprise, the academy reports he had read showed his sensei's son to be an idiot, this was a plan he would more expect from a Nara. Naruto had made one mistake however, he had let Kakashi talk to long before taking the bell, with a small burst of wind chakra from his feet Kakashi cut the rope around his legs and fell towards the ground, too fast for the genin to see the hand seals for Shunshin were made and Kakashi disappeared. The next minute the genin were all unconscious and tied to the training posts.

Kakashi stared long at the three unconscious genin hopefuls, they had come closer to getting the bells than any team he had ever tested before, on top of that they did manage to come together and work as a team. He hated to say it but he was actually starting to like these three, he didn't want to pass them, didn't want to have to be around the legacies/reminders of his failure to protect his teammate and sensei. Maybe, just maybe he could protect these two. They were strong, even if he failed them next year they would graduate and be sent out on missions, maybe they would be sent out on missions with a Jounin not as capable as he was. Just because he wasn't there wouldn't make them any less likely to be hurt or make him feel any worse if they did.

Sasuke and Hinata started to stir and take in their surroundings. Hinata hung her head in shame, with all three of them tied up there's no way they'd be able to get the bells. Sasuke cursed and ground his teeth, even after they had come so close they weren't able to get the bells.

Kakashi eyed the two but decided to let them sweat until Naruto woke up, they he would tell them they had passed. A small twitch passed through Naruto's eyelid and Kakashi zeroed in on it, Naruto was awake, he may have been even before the other two,

"Naruto, stop pretending to be asleep. You all passed." Kakashi eye smiled at their shocked expressions. "You understood the purpose of the exercise and used teamwork, you actually got pretty close too."

Naruto raised his head and smiled at the silver haired Jounin, "closer than you think Sensei" a clone of Naruto seemingly rose out of the ground and cut the three's genin's ropes before handing the two bells to Sasuke and Hinata before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi quickly reached back and tried to grab the bells of his belt and found them missing. "When?"

"When my clone switched out with Sasuke when he was buried he used a burrowing jutsu, to get from there and when Sasuke lit you on fire he came out and grabbed the bells before going back into the ground."

" Then why keep fighting?"

Naruto smirked, "To prove that we could beat you."

Kakashi chuckled, "Well you couldn't but I like your ambition, Welcome to Team 7."

**Author's Notes**

**So that's the formation of Team 7 I'd like it if you'd leave some reviews and tell me what you think about how I write my fight scenes, like I said still brand new to this whole fanfiction thing. Also I started writing another story as I think you know, it is getting far more views and reviews compared to this one even with less words and I've been starting to consider putting this on Pause for a while. If you don't think I should do this please review and tell me, also please read my other story, apparently a lot of people are excited about it. Thanks for your time, until next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys, sadly for now I am telling you all that I am going on Hiatus for this story. I am not saying I will not come back to it but for right now my other story has much better reviews and interest, I plan to come back to this story later but for now I wish to work on my other one and a few nonfanfiction stories that I need to start working on for classes coming this fall. I want to thank you all for reading my stuff and ask that instead you go to my other story, which you can find in my author page. This story will not be abandon I will come back to it, I promise you that.


End file.
